SU elects part-time officers at last Council

Members of the Oversight Commission and Electoral Commission were also elected this evening

Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) has tonight elected its new part time officers (PTO) for the 2019/20 academic year. The votes saw class reps vote on various positions, as well as deciding the members of the Electoral Commission (EC) and Oversight Commission (OC).

The first election saw Sadhbh Brennan chosen as Chair of Council, with Ellen McGrath elected Secretary. Cian Fogarty was also elected as the two-year biennial member of the EC. The three roles were uncontested. Laura Owens, Yannick Gloster, Phillip O’Hanrahan, and Nicole Greenan were elected as one-year EC members. Joe Kelly and Maria Pachowicz were also elected to the Oversight Commission.

Nollaig Butler and Hiram Harrington were elected as members of the communications committee.

Thomas O’Neill, a first year Chemical Sciences student was elected as the next LGBT Rights Officer. O’Neill outlined his plan to collaborate with QSoc to campaign for trans students’ healthcare rights. O’Neill also plans to organise a workshop on “How To Be An Ally”, and run an LGBT in STEM event. Cúnla Morris, second year Irish and History student, and Jack Shields, a second year Psychology student also contested the position.

Megan O’Connor was elected to the role of Off-Campus Officer. O’Connor noted that “I have spent the majority of my time in this College off-campus” and that “it’s so much bigger than people think”. Tídgh Maguire and Avril Fleury also contested the position. Maguire suggested he would “carry out monthly check-ins with course representatives of off-campus students”. Avril Fleury noted that “I want to make the lives of off campus students more liveable”.

Muireann Nic Corcráin, a third year History and Modern Irish student, was elected Oifigeach Na Gaeilge. Nic Corcráin has been a member of An Scéim Chónaithe during her time in Trinity. She plans to implement consent workshops in Irish as well as reaching out to various societies to run workshops to embrace the language through stage and poetry. Aoibh Ní Mhuireartaigh, a third year French and Spanish student also ran.

Ruby Barrett was elected as Environmental Officer. Barrett is a second year Law student and current member of the Electoral Commission. Barrett plans to cut back the amount of waste produced at Council meetings in the form of sweet wrappers, by providing zero-waste sweets. Barrett also wants to send out email guides to students on how to live sustainably.

Salem Barakat, a second year law student was elected as International Students Officer. Salem intends to work alongside societies to create inclusive events for international students. He also wants to work with The Global Room to assist students with GNIB applications to create an info guide on all necessary information about Dublin. “I have a lot of experience with the daunting visa process”. Preetam Singhvi, a third year Computer Engineering student also contested the position.

TCDSU will see Nollaig Butler take up the position of Citizenship Officer. Butler aims to emphasise the importance of voter registration and take an active role in campaigns regarding citizenship. He sees the role as being a facilitator between PTOs and students who have an interest in campaigning, and wants to improve student engagement with the SU. Aoife Grimes also contested the position.

Courtney McGrath, a second year BESS student was elected as Officer for Students with Disabilities. McGrath, who is a current member of the TCDSU Disability committee, pledged to introduce Irish Sign Language workshops in College, and assign a Disability Liaison in Trinity Hall as a member of the JCR welfare team. Jack Shields, a second year Psychology student, also ran for the position.

Abdulqadir Abshir was elected as the next Ethnic Minorities Officer. He is the current chair of the Afro-Caribbean Society, and member of the Ethnic Minorities Committee. He also noted his work on implementing the European Network Against Racism Workshops in Trinity, alongside Ethnic Minorities Officer, Navika Mehta.

The next Gender Equality Officer will be Ray Carey, a third year History student, following election this evening. Carey is the current Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) Faculty Convenor. Carey expressed a desire to make consent workshops more inclusive of LGBT+ people and to work with the college GPs and psychiatrist to make it easier for trans students to access hormones.

Daniel O’Reilly, a third year Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering student was elected as the next Engineering Maths and Sciences Faculty Convenor. He plans to hold as many faculty assemblies as possible in flat rooms to encourage discussion and plans to set up a streamlined system for reporting maintenance issues. He also aims to host school-centric Diversity in STEM events, and wants to rebrand the Science Ball to EMS Ball. The position was also contested by Sé Ó hEidhin and Darragh Flood.

Emma Rossiter was elected as Community Liaison Officer. Rossiter outlined her plan to put together information on “navigating Dublin” so that she could “make students aware of local services”. Tídgh Maguire, a first year Medicine student also ran.

Jodie Milne, a first year Nursing student who came to Trinity through the TAP programme was elected to be the next Access Officer. Milne plans to work with the incoming Officer for Ethnic Minorities to encourage College supports for members of the travelling community and students who are seeking asylum. She also wants to work with the incoming Officer for Students with Disabilities to ensure students who overlap with HEAR and DARE schemes are not overlooked. Zoe Cummins, a first year Physics student also ran.


Ida Lis was elected unopposed as the next Health Sciences (HS) Faculty Convenor. Lis is a second year Children’s and General Nursing student. She plans to start discussion forums to talk about student issues and hopes to work with the Off-Campus Officer and Education Officer to deal with off-campus and HS issues respectively.

Daire Hennessy, the former TCDSU Presidential candidate, was elected as Volunteer Forum Coordinator. Hennessy said that he would like to “set up an award to recognise volunteers”. He added that he would “love to see volunteers become class reps and class reps become volunteers.” Keane Ryan, the outgoing JCR Treasurer, also ran.

Jacqui Whelan was elected as the next TSM Convenor, while Emma Black was elected unopposed as the AHSS Faculty Convenor. James Donoghue was elected Mature Students Officer and Leah Freeman was elected as Student Parents Officer.

Finn Purdy

Finn Purdy is the current Deputy Editor of Trinity News. He is a Junior Sophister English Studies student, and a former News Editor and Assistant News Editor.